The Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Railroad is a defunct American

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

that operated passenger service from Broad Street Station in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Franklin City, Virginia Franklin City is an unincorporated community in Accomack County, Virginia, United States. Greenbackville and neighboring Franklin City grew as a result of the railroad line laid in the late 19th century to transport oysters and other shellfish ...

. At the latter city, steamship connections could be made to Chincoteague, Virginia on the Atlantic Ocean-side exterior islands. The railroad was formed in 1883 through a consolidation of the Junction and Breakwater Railroad and the Breakwater and Frankford Railroad. The

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated independently from 1836 to 1881. It was formed in 1836 by the merger of four state-chartered railroads in three Middle Atlantic states to create a ...

took control in March 1891 after the Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Railroad approached default on two mortgages totaling $600,000. The

Delaware General Assembly The Delaware General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Delaware Senate with 21 senators and the Delaware House of Representatives with 41 representatives. It meets at Legisl ...

met with Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Railroad directors and those of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad in order to avoid the default and keep the rail lines open. The Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Railroad shareholders remained minority owners of the line until 1919, when they were unable to meet financial obligations, and the minority shares were sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad. The railroad was built out to Chincoteague Bay for the purpose of transporting oysters and other shellfish to Philadelphia. By the 1910s the Pennsylvania Railroad had leased out or purchased the railroad, appearing on the Pennsylvania Railroad tables of the PRR section of the ''Official Guide of the Railways of North America.'' By the end of the 1920s the line was among those rail lines throughout the

Delmarva Peninsula The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a large peninsula and proposed state on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore regions of Maryland and Virginia. ...

that the PRR fully acquired. Georgetown Station

The Pennsylvania Railroad passenger trains operated along the route until the late 1940s, stopping at towns just a few miles inland from resort towns on the eastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula. Frequency along the route dwindled from three trains in each direction at the opening of the 1910s to one train a day in each direction in 1941. The noteworthy towns along the route, south of Wilmington, Delaware consisted of: * Harrington, Delaware * Ellendale * Georgetown * Selbyville *

Berlin, Maryland Berlin is a town in Worcester County, Maryland, United States which includes its own historical Berlin Commercial District. The population was 4,485 at the 2010 census, and has since grown in population. It is part of the Salisbury, Maryland-D ...

* Snow Hill *Franklin City The railroad had a branch route in southeastern Delaware, that broke off from the above route at Georgetown, and veered east to

Lewes, Delaware Lewes ( ) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delawar ...

and then turned south to

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Rehoboth Beach ( ) is a city on the Atlantic Ocean along the Delaware Beaches in eastern Sussex County, Delaware. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the population was 1,327, reflecting a decline of 161 (11.2%) from the 1,488 counted in the 2000 ce ...

. However, service on this branch route was eliminated by 1941. Passenger service on the line was entirely eliminated by 1949. Today, the line is now truncated to Snow Hill, and the properties have been acquired by the

Maryland and Delaware Railroad The Maryland and Delaware Railroad Company is a Class III short-line railroad, formed in 1977 to operate several branch lines of the former Penn Central Railroad in both Maryland and Delaware, United States. These branches were omitted from the ...

External links

Abandoned Railroads of DelawareAbandoned Railroads of MarylandEastern Shore Railroad history

References

Defunct railroads Predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Defunct Virginia railroads Defunct Maryland railroads Defunct Delaware railroads {{US-rail-transport-stub